How about a Mentor Talk section?

[Ray from NJ]

How about growing list of users of this site by adding a Mentor section too?

I am currently using Veribest 2000 (Expedition) and would rather post in a non-corporate, slightly moderated site.

Ray

[Tom]

Ray,

I agree with you. For some reason we created the Cadence Section before Mentor purchased Innoveda. It seems that the "High End" migration path for all PADS Users would naturally be the Mentor Expedition product line.

I also heard that out of all 5 schematic capture systems that Mentor owns, Viewdraw will be the one they develop and distribute. The rest will be history.

We almost need to develop sub-forums that can be selected from on the main page (instead of having all the CAD tools in the same page).

Randy (webmaster), what do you think?

[randychase]

Sounds like a plan. It will be done.

We are rethinking right now how we bundle the directory structure for the different cad platforms. Stay tuned.

[randychase]

Give me some ideas about this.

I think it makes sense to leave PADS/Downstream as it is since there is so much focus on it for now.

I am thinking a separate group called MentorTalk. And then what subgroups should be under it?

[Tom]

The Mentor Talk Forum should have:
Boardstation
Veribest
Expedition

The Cadence Talk Forum should have:
Allegro
Specctra
OrCAD Capture
OrCAD Layout

The Altium Talk Forum should have:
Protel
PCAD
Tango
Camtastic

The PADS Talk Forum should have:
PowerPCB
BlazeRoute
PowerLogic
Viewdraw
DX Products

The CAM Talk Forum should have:
CAM350
Valor
GerbTool
Graphic Code
Router Solutions
Camastic
Lavenier

The Mechanical Drafting Talk Forum should have:
AutoCAD
Solid Works
PRO-E


I personally think that Downstream should be isolated into it's own column. Yes, Downstream was born out of Innoveda, but it's a totally new company and product now (just like Gerbtool).

I think that there should be a main Forum Menu where users can select the product that they are using and then enter that Forum. Every Forum should have some duplication like "Off Topic", "Bugs & Bug Spray", "Customization", "Documents", "Translators" even a "Word of Mouth" for that particular tool.

I think there should be a Talk Forum Strip for "Industry News". (Instead of dumping all this data in the "Off Topic" Forum)

I know we started off with a PADS Forum, but we have to think of the future. Many of the products and most all the documentation for download on the Site Index are non-CAD system specific.

[randychase]

Thanks for the input. Just to share my perspective on why it is the way it is (or was)....

Having set up a number of forums, I find quite often people tend to create a large number of categories that become way underused. It's kind of like having a user's group and setting out 100 chairs and having 50 people show up vs setting up 40 chairs and having 50 people show up. The appearance for the 40 chair method is you are very successful and crowded. The 100 chair people think that not many people showed up. :)

So anyway, I tend to not create a huge number of categories until the point we need them. If we had one Cadence category and it gets 1 post a week, I don't think we need a bunch of subcategories... yet. However, I do agree it makes sense to split things up based on a totally different cad program, so that makes a good point for Allegro, Specttra, etc.

When PCBstandards started, it was PADS specific, and yes, CAM-350 was part of it then. As we are now transitioning to supporting other CAD formats, I think we will be addressing this to divide up the site index into a better structure.

Thanks for the feedback.